Cybersecurity Legislation Gets Push From Financial Firms

Top financial-industry lobbyists pressed Senators to move forward with cybersecurity legislation, part of an effort to re-energize a campaign that has lost steam amid revelations about the National Security Agency’s extensive domestic surveillance.

In a letter Wednesday to senior members of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, three financial-industry trade groups said their ability to prevent cyber-attacks will be hindered unless Congress acts.

The industry’s main concern is liability: Will private-sector firms expose themselves to lawsuits if, in responding to cyber-threats, they share customers’ information with the government or halt certain financial transactions?

“Cybercriminals threaten consumer privacy by persistently and aggressively attacking while those who want to protect that private data are hindered from sharing attack information by a system that is weakened due to uncertainty over liability concerns,” wrote the heads of the Financial Services Roundtable, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, and the American Bankers Association. “Congress can change that.”

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the Intelligence Committee, is working with the committee’s senior Republican, Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R., Ga.), on legislation she has said would “facilitate the sharing of cyber related information among companies and with the government and to provide protection from liability for so doing.”

President Barack Obama signed an Executive order in February to start facilitating some data sharing, but lawmakers and the administration believe they need legislation, largely because of the liability protection it provides.

A spokesman for Ms. Feinstein had no immediate comment on Wednesday’s letter. In a statement, Mr. Chambliss said he hopes the committee will act soon. “Those on the front lines of these attacks must be able to share cyber threat information freely and without fear of frivolous lawsuits, while still ensuring that the privacy interests of ordinary Americans are protected,” he said.

The House passed a cybersecurity bill in April that the industry supports, but the White House threatened a presidential veto, saying that bill “does not require private entities to take reasonable steps to remove irrelevant personal information when sending cybersecurity data to the government or other private sector entities.”

Since then, the administration has come under fire after an NSA contractor leaked details of the government’s cyber-spying operations, heightening public concern over online privacy.

Mr. Obama met last month with Bank of America Corp. chief executive Brian Moynihan and other CEOs to discuss cybersecurity and the Department of Commerce outlined a draft of best practices for companies to manage cyber risks. Tim Pawlenty, President of the Financial Services Roundtable, called the draft guidelines and the meeting helpful but said legislation is still needed.

The industry is open to changes to the House bill if it means getting legislation passed, said Karl Schimmeck, vice president of financial services at Sifma, the securities industry group. “We are supportive of the House bill, but we understand there probably is going to be some compromise,” Mr. Schimmeck said in an interview Wednesday. “We really just want to see some progress.”

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